History in Depth

Collections of documents come in all shapes and sizes. Many attempt to cover a very broad period; in consequence they rely heavily on illustrative material which is thought to be typical. In practice, this means a patchwork of often isolated snippets, with material torn out of context. Single documents or even fragments of documents have to bear the whole weight of a period, a problem, a theme. Students derive from such collections a mistaken impression of the nature of history, of the character of historical research, and very often, a false impression of the subject of study.

HISTORY IN DEPTH is based on the belief that historical perception demands immediacy and depth. Working to the principle that true breadth in history can be achieved only by examining a concrete problem in depth, each volume in the series is devoted to either a particular event or crisis of considerable significance, such as the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 or the British General Strike of 1926; or to a trend or movement running through a coherent period of time, such as West African Nationalism from the middle of the nineteenth century or the concept of Das Volk in the German lands; or to a particular area of experience, such as the Victorian underworld or Elizabethan Puritanism.

No artificial uniformity is imposed on the format of the volumes; each is shaped by the dictates of its subject. But there are certain basic elements common to all. The core of each book is a major collection of original material, translated into English where necessary, with editorial decisions on modernised punctuation and spelling governed by the nature of the subject. Each editor provides an introduction geared to the particular demands of his volume; each volume carries a full working bibliography, interpretive notes and an index.

This is a new approach to the teaching of history which has been evolved in response to a demand from practising teachers throughout the Commonwealth. The general editor has selected the subjects and the volume editors with care, so that each book stands in its own right, and has something of the quality of a monograph.

History in Depth General Editor: G. A. Williams

Henry S. Wilson: Origins of West African Nationalism R. B. Dobson: The Peasants' Revolt of 1381

]. R. Pole: The Revolution in America, 1754-1788 D. S. Chambers: Patrons and Artists in the Italian Renaissance

In Preparation R. Mm·tin: The General Strike

R. C. Mettam: State and Society of Louis XIV B. Harrison: Robert Lowery: Portraits of a Radical

Hans Koch: Das Volk Raphael Samuel: The Victorian Underworld

H. C. Porter: Puritanism in Tudor England Dorothy Thompson: The Early Chartists

Lionel Butler: The Fourth Crusade W. H. Hargreaves-Mawdsley:

Spain under the Bourbons, 1700-1833

Other books by D. S. Chambers: Cardinal Bainbridge in the Court of Rome

Faculty Office Registers, 1534-1549

Patrons and Artists in the I tali an Renaissance

D. S. CHAMBERS

Palgrave Macmillan

©Editorial matter, translation and selection D. S. Chambers 1970

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1970 978-0-333-09391-7

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or

by any means, without permission.

First publ£shed 1970 by MACMILLAN AND CO LTD

London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Toronto Dublin Melbourne] ohannesburg and Madras

The Papermac edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade

or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent, in

any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the

subsequent purchaser.

ISBN 978-1-349-00625-0 ISBN 978-1-349-00623-6 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00623-6

SBN (boards) 333 09391 7(paper) 333 11139 7

This book is dedicated to my Mother

and in fond memory of my Father,

who died before he could

see it finished

Contents

List of Illustrations General Editor's Preface Preface Introduction

Part I: Clerical Patronage

The Great Door of San Petronio, Bologna 1 Contract of J acopo della Quercia with the Papal

XVlll

XIX

xxu xxm

Legate, Louis d'Aleman, 28 March 1425 3 2 Letter of J acopo della Quercia to the Officials of

the Fabric a of San Petronio, 26 June 1426 6 3 Letter of J acopo della Quercia to the Officials of

the Fabrica of San Petronio, 26 March 1436 7

Paintings for Religious Houses 4 Contract of Piero della Francesca with the

Austin Friars of Bargo Sansepolcro, 4 October 1454 9

Records of a Fresco Painted by Neri di Bicci for the Abbot of San Pancrazio, Florence, 1455-6 11

5 Neri di Bicci's Record of the Contract, 1 March 1455 11

6 Monastic Record of Payments to Neri di Bicci, 1455-6 12

7 Contract of Alesso di Baldovinetti with the Servite Friars of Florence, 27 May 1460 13

8 Contract of Domenico and Davide Ghirlandaio with the Franciscan Friars of Palco, 20 August 15 1490

VII

9 Contract of Pietro Perugino with the Canons of S. Maria Maggiore, Spello, 13 March 1521 16

Patronage of the Papal Court 10 Statements of Expenditure on the Vatican Palace

and St Peter's, 1451 18

The Decoration of the Sistine Chapel, 1481-2 11 Contract for Wall Paintings, 27 October 1481 20 12 Agreement about Valuation of the Painting of

the First Four Stories, 17 January 1482 21

Cardinal Olivieri Caraffa's Patronage of Filippino Lippi

13 Letter of Cardinal Caraffa to Gabriele, Abbot of Montescalari, 11 September 1488 22

14 Letter of Filippino Lippi to Filippo Strozzi, 2 May 1489 24

15 Contract of Pintoricchio with Cardinal Francesco de' Todeschini-Piccolomini for decorating the Library in Siena Cathedral, 2.9 June 1502 25

16 Letter of Raphael to his Uncle Simone di Battista Ciarla, 1 July 1514 29

17 Letter of Sebastiana del Piombo to Michelangelo Buonarroti, 2 July 1518 31

18 Letter of Sebastiana del Piombo to Michel-angelo, 3 July 1520 32

19 The Julius Tomb: Letter of Cardinal Leonardo Grosso della Rovere to Michelangelo, 23 October 1518 34

Part II: Guild Patronage

The Cupola of Florence Cathedral 20 Announcement of the Competition, 19-20 Aug-

ust 1418 39 21 Resolution of the Wool Guild to place Filippo

Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti under contract, 28 January 1426 40

Vlll

The Statues at Or' San Michele, Florence 22 Contract of Lorenzo Ghiberti with the Money­

changers Guild to make the Statue of St Matthew, 26 August 1418 42

23 Resolution of the Wool Guild to commission the Statue of St Stephen from Ghiberti, 11 April 1427 44

The Third Pair of Doors for the Baptistery, Florence 24 Letter of Leonardo Bruni to Niccolo da Uzzano

and a Committee of the Cloth Guild, 1426 47 25 Accounts for Ghiberti's Work on the Doors,

1424-52 48

Some Rigorous Contracts for Lay Fraternities 26 Contract of Piero della Francesca with the

Company of the Misericordia, Bargo Sanse-polcro, 11 June 1445 52

27 Contract of Benozzo Gozzoli with the Company of the Purification, Florence, 23 October 1461 53

The Decoration of Guild Halls 28 Contract of Gentile and Giovanni Bellini for

decorating the Scuola di San Marco, Venice, 15 July 1492 56

29 Contract of Giovanni Bellini for decorating the Scuola di San Marco, Venice, 4 July 1515 57

30 Record of a Debate of the Money-changers Guild, Perugia, 26 January 1496 59

Part III: Civic Patronage

The Pulpit Outside Prato Cathedral 31 Contract of Michelozzo and Donatello with the

Operaii of the Chapel of the Sacred Girdle and the Commune of Prato, 14 July 1428 63

32 Letter of Matteo degli Organi to the Operaii of the Chapel of the Sacred Girdle, 19 June 1434 65

lX

33 Contract of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon with the Salt Office to construct the Porta della Carta, Venice, 10 November 1438 66

34 Record by Neri di Bicci of his Contract with the Florentine Signoria, 15 August 1454 69

35 Letter of the Lieutenant of Bologna to Aris-totele Fieravanti, 14 December 1464 70

36 Contract of Giuliano da Sangallo with the Hospital of the Misericordia, the Provost and Deputies of the Commune of Prato, 4 Octo-ber 1485 72

A Sienese Citizen in Demand: Francesco di Giorgio Martini

57 Letter of the BaHa of Siena to Francesco di Giorgio Martini, 26 December 1485 75

38 Letter of the Anziani and Gonfaloniere of Jus-tice of Lucca to the Balla of Siena, 29 August 1491 76

The Hall of the Great Council of Venice 39 Resolution of the Greater Council, 21 Septem-

ber 1474 79 40 Resolution of the Greater Council, 29 August

1478 79 41 Petition of Alvise Vivarini to the Doge and

Signoria, 28 July 1488 80 42 Petition of Titian to the Council of Ten, 31 May

1513 81 43 Petition of Titian to Doge Leonardo Loredan,

18January 1516 83

The Hall of the Great Council of Florence 44 Contract of Andrea Sansovino to make a Statue

of Christ the Saviour, 10 June 1502 85 45 Resolution of the Great Council concerning

Leonardo da Vinci's Cartoon and Fresco, 4 May 1504 87

X

Part IV: Princely and Private Patronage

(z) The Med£cz" of Florence Letters of Painters to Piero, Son of Cosimo de' Medici

46 Letter of Domenico Veneziano to Piero de' Medici, 1 April 1438 91

4 7 Letter of Fra Filippo Lippi to Piero de' Medici, 13 August 1439 93

48 Letter of Matteo de' Pasti to Piero de' Medici, 1441 94

49 Letter of Benozzo Gozzoli to Piero de' Medici, lOJuly 1459 95

50 A Sophisticated Programme for Botticelli? Letter of Marsilio Ficino to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, c. 1477 97

51 Lorenzo the Magnificent as Arbiter: Letter to Lorenzo from the Commissioners of the Tomb of Cardinal Forteguerri, 11 March 1478 99

52 Humorous Familiarity towards Lorenzo the Magnificent: Letter to Lorenzo from Bertoldo, 29 July 1479 102

53 Did Lorenzo pay his Bills? Inventory of Andrea Verrocchio's Works for the Medici drawn up by his Brother after Lorenzo's Death in 1492 104

54 The Value of the Medici Picture Collection in Florence: Extracts from the Palace Inventory, 1492 106

(££) The Gonzaga of Mantua Ludovico Gonzaga as Patron Albert£ and Bu£ld£ng Projects at Mantua

55 Letter of Leon Battista Alberti to Ludovico Gonzaga, 27 February 1460 112

56 Letter of Alberti to Ludovico Gonzaga, c. 1470 113

The Tr£bune of the Church of the Annunziata, Florence

57 Letter of Pietro del Tovaglia to Ludovico Gonzaga, 25 October 1470 115

XI

58 Letter of Ludovico Gonzaga to Giovanni Aldobrandini, 8 April 14 71 116

Ludovico and Federico I Gonzaga as Patrons The Employment of Mantegna

59 Letter of Ludovico Gonzaga to Andrea Man-tegna, 15 Aprill458 116

60 Letter of Mantegna to Ludovico Gonzaga, 13 May 1478 118

61 Letter of Federico I Gonzaga to Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Milan, 20June 1480 120

Gian Francesco II Gonzaga as Patron His Taste for Topography

62 Letter of Giancarlo Scalona to Gian Francesco Gonzaga, 7 December 1493 121

63 Letter of Vittorio Carpaccio to Gian Francesco Gonzaga, 15 August 1511 12 2

Isabella d'Este, Wife of Gian Francesco II Gonzaga, as Patron

The Quest for a Work by Giovanni Bellini 64 Letter of Michele Vianello to Isabella d'Este,

5 March 1501 126 65 Letter of Michele Vianello to Isabella d'Este,

25 June 1501 126 66 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Michele Vianello,

28 June 1501 127 67 Letter of lsabella d'Este to Michele Vianello,

15 September 1502 128 68 Letter of Michele Vianello to Isabella d'Este,

3 November 1502 128 69 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Michele Vianello,

12 November 1502 129 70 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Giovanni Bellini,

9 July 1504 129 71 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Giovanni Bellini,

19 October 1505 130 72 Letter of Pietro Bembo to Isabella d'Este,

!January 1506 131

xu

The Quest for a Work by Perugino 7 3 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Francesco Malatesta,

15 September 1502 74 Letter of Francesco Malatesta to Isabella d'Este,

23 September 1502 75 Letter of Francesco Malatesta to Isabella d'Este,

24 October 1502 76 Instructions of Isabella d'Este to Perugino,

19 January 1503 77 Letter of Perugino to Isabella d'Este, 10 Decem­

ber 1503 78 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Perugino, 12 January

1504 79 Letter of Perugino to Isabella d'Este, 24 January

1504 80 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Paride Ceresara,

10 November 1504 81 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Agostino Strozzi,

Abbot of Fiesole, 19 February 1505 82 Letter of Agostino Strozzi to Isabella d'Este,

22 February 1505 83 Letter of Perugino to Isabella d'Este, 14 June

1505 84 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Perugino, 30 June

1505

The Quest for a Work by Leonardo da Vinci 85 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Fra Pietro da

Novellara, 27 March 1501 86 Letter of Fra Pietro da N ovellara to Isabella

d'Este, 3 April 1501 87 Letter of Fra Pietro da Novellara to Isabella

d'Este, 14 April1501 88 1Letter of Isabella d'Este to Leonardo da Vinci,

14 May 1504 89 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Leonardo da Vinci,

31 October 1504 90 Letter of Alessandro Amadori, Canon of Fiesole

and Uncle of Leonardo, to Isabella d'Este,

134

134

135

135

138

139

139

140

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

147

3 May 1506 148

Xlll

The Quest for a Work by Giorgione 91 Letter of Taddeo Albano to Isabella d'Este,

8 November 1510 149

The Quest for a Work by Raphael 92 Letter of Isabella d'Este to Matteo Ippoliti,

24 May 1512 150

(iii) The Sforza of Milan and Other Italian Princes Taste at the Court of Milan

93 Letter of Duchess Bianca Maria Visconti, Wife of Francesco Sforza, to Rogier van der W eyden, 7 May 1463 151

94 Letter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza to Leonardo Botta, 8 March 1476 152

95 Memorandum among the Papers of Duke Ludovico 'II Moro' Sforza, c. 1496 153

Peremptory Patronage at Milan 96 Letter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza to Vincenzo

Foppa, 3 March 1463 154 97 Letter of Zanetto Bugatto to Duke Galeazzo

Maria Sforza, c. 1474-6 155

The Chapel of the Relics in the Castle of Pavia 98 Letter of Bartolomeo Gadio of Cremona to

Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 8June 1474 156 99 Letter of Bartolomeo Gadio to Duke Galeazzo

Maria Sforza, 27 June 1474 157 100 Letter of Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza to the

Referendary of Pavia, 8 December 1490 159 101 Letter of Duke Ludovico 'II Moro' Sforza to

Archbishop Antonio Arcimboldi, 8 June 1496 159

Court Patronage at Ferrara and Urbino 102 Letter of Guarino of Verona to Marquis

Leonello d'Este, 5 November 1447 160 103 Letter of Francesco Cossa to Duke Borso

d'Este, 25 March 1470 162 104 Patent of Count Federigo di Montefeltro,

XIV

Count of Urbino, on behalf of Luciano Laurana, 10 June 1468 164

(iv) Patronage of Some Private Individuals 105 Contract for Jean de France to paint the Out­

side of the Ca' d'oro, Venice, 15 September 1431 167

106 An Exacting Patron in Ferrara: Contract of Baldassare d'Este with Ser Simon Ruffino, 1472 169

107 Contract of Domenico Ghirlandaio with Gio­vanni Tornabuoni for Frescoes in the Church of S. Maria Novella, Florence, 1 September 1485 172

108 A Roman Baron boldly confronted: Letter of Antonio Pollaiuolo to Virginia Orsini, 13 July 1494 175

Part V: The Artist's Working Life: A Miscellany

109 Letter of Leon Battista Alberti to Matteo de' Pasti, 18 November 1454

110 Ancient or Modern? Record by Neri di Bicci of his Contract with the Friars of S. Maria delle Selve, 14 September 1454

The Art of Restoration 111 Record by Neri di Bicci of his Restoration of a

Painting, 31 October 1471

The Art of Copying 112 Contract of Michele Giambono to reproduce a

Painting by Giovanni d'Alemagna, 31 May 1447

The Conditions of Apprenticeship 113 Record by Neri di Bicci of his Contract with

Cosimo Rosselli, 1 March 1456 114 Contract of Tomasso de' Rossi with the Father

of Cambio Tortorella, 28 October 1460

181

183

185

186

188

189 XV

Subcontracted Work 115 Contract of Ghiberti with Be'nozzo Gozzoli and

Others for Work on the Baptistery Doors, Florence, 24 January 1444 190

116 Record by N eri di Bicci of a Contract with Giuliano da Maiano, 3 November 1456 191

11 7 Record by Maso di Bartolomeo of a Contract with Luca della Robbia, 1451 192

Part- Tz"me Work 118 Resolution of the Operaii of Orvieto Cathedral

to employ Fra Angelico, 11 May 1447 193

Payment or Conscience? 119 Record of the Contract of Fra Angelico with

the Linen-makers Guild, Florence, 11 July 1433 195

120 Contract of Alesso Baldovinetti with the Hospital of S. Maria Nuova, Florence, 17 April1461 196

121 Neri di Bicci's Business Sense: Record of his Completion of a Painting by his Father, 24 March 1466 197

122 A Painter's Appeal for Tax Immunity: Letter of Pintoricchio to the Officials of the Balla of Siena, March 1507 197

Arbitration and Litigation 123 Record of the Award to Domenico di

Michelina for his Dante Fresco, 30 January, 19 June 1466 200

124 Record of the Dispute between Fra Filippo Lippi and Antonio del Barcha, 11 September 1451 201

125 Vincenzo Foppa threatened with Proceedings: Letter of Erasmo Trivulzio to Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan, 3 November 1489 204

126 Baldovinetti rallies Distinguished Supporters:

XVI

Valuation of the Frescoes for the Gian­figliazzi Chapel in the Church of S. Trini ta, Florence, 19 January 149 7 205

12 7 Record of the Appeal of Leonardo da Vinci and Ambrogio Preda concerning the 'Virgin of the Rocks', c. 1504-6 206

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 209

INDEX 215

xvn

List of Illustrations

Cover: Portrait medals of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, by Bartolommeo Melioli c. 1475, and of Leon Battista Alberti by Matteo de' Pasti c. 1446-50 (By courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)

between pages 60 and 61

1 The Madonna della Misericordia polyptych by Piero della Francesca (Pinacoteca, Bargo San Sepolcro)

(Foto Alinari; by courtesy of the Mansell Collection)

See document 4

2 The Angel appearing to Zacharias in the Temple, showing Giovanni Tomabuoni by Domenico Ghirlandaio (Santa Maria Novella, Florence)

(Foto Alinari; by courtesy of the Mansell Collection)

See document 107

3 The Battle of Love and Chastity by Pietro Perugino (Musee du Louvre) (By courtesy of the Musee du Louvre)

See documents 76-84

4 Commemorative medal showing Alberti's design for the facade of the Tempio Malatestiano (San Francesco, Rimini) and the portrait of Sigismondo Malatesta by Matteo de' Pasti (By courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)

See document 109

5 The facade of Ca' d'oro, Venice: detail showing crenella­tion

(By courtesy of Foto Rebenshak, Comune di Venezia: Urbanista Archivio Fotografico Veneziano)

See document 105 XVlll

General Editor's Preface

Historical perception demands immediacy and depth. These qualities are lost in attempts at broad general survey; for the reader of history depth is the only true breadth. Each volume in this series, therefore, explores an important historical problem in depth. There is no artificial uniformity; each volume is shaped by the problem it tackles. The past bears its own witness; the core of each volume is a major collection of original material (translated into English where necessary} as alive, as direct and as full as possible. The reader should feel the texture of the past. The volume editor provides inter­pretative notes and introduction and a full working biblio­graphy. The volume will stand in its own right as a 'relived experience' and will also serve as a point of entry into a wider area of historical discourse. In taking possession of a parti­cular historical world, the reader will move more freely in a wider universe of historical experience.

* In this volume, Dr David Chambers explores the world of patrons and artists in Renaissance Italy. 'Clio, then, was the inventress of historical studies pertaining to fame and olden times,' wrote Guarino of Verona to Duke Leonello d'Este in 144 7, 'so let her be holding a trumpet in one hand and a book in the other; her garment is of various hues and covered in many ways with figures.' In the new, trenchant, human translations of this striking volume, one of the most potent societies of European history is recaptured in immediacy, depth and colour.

The great doors of the Baptistery at Florence and the cupola of its cathedral stand as decisive early achievements of the Renaissance. Among the earliest documents here from the 1420s are the Wool Guild's appointment of Brunelleschi

XIX

to the latter, Ghiberti's accounts for his work on the third pair of Baptistery doors, the often petulant correspondence of J acopo della Quercia, rejected at Florence, as he sets about the Great Door of San Petronio in Bologna. The collection closes, around 1520, with Grosso della Revere pressing Michelangelo on the Julius Tomb and Sebastiana del Piombo reassuring him: 'My dearest comrade ... you will always have me boiled and roasted.'

This is not primarily an essay in the history of art, although it adds a dimension to that history. It is, rather, a study of the process by which works of art were produced during one of the most formative phases of European experience. The purpose is to deploy as wide a range of surviving records as possible - letters, contracts, extracts from books of payments, memoranda - to illustrate the patronage and working practice of artists. The patrons are, inevitably, the focus: the Church, displayed at work on San Petronio in Bologna, in contracts for paintings for religious houses, in the massive patronage of the Papal Court; the Guilds, debating over and contracting for cathedral and the Or' San Michele statuary in Florence, the great halls in Venice and Perugia; the Cities, in an agony of competitive emulation, wrestling with each other and with artists often as refractory as their materials. Particularly rich is the material relating to the patronage of princes and private individuals, the 'protean Medici', the Gonzaga, the Sforza, the long series of letters of that incomparable huntress Isabella d'Este; parti­cularly rewarding are the documents on the artist's working life - fashions and styles, copying and restoration, apprentice­ship, subcontracting, litigation, payment.

Dr Chambers supplies essential editorial guidance but this volume, unique in its scope and depth, allows the reader to make his own judgements and assessments on the multiple problems so amply documented - the complexity of styles and influences, the persistence of 'gothic', the relevance of philosophy and theory, the dominance of the secular, the emergence of the artist from the artisanry, the exigencies of technique and costs, the interplay of patrons, prices and piety, the ambiguities of commercialisation. This superbly craftsmanlike study enables the reader to be his own historical craftsman, to re-experience the human reality of

XX

creative work in a particular society; for in this recon­struction of the most crucial of societies, it is the perennially human which registers - Benozzo Gozzoli assuring Piero de Medici that he can cover up unwanted seraphs with 'two little clouds', or Sebastiana assuring Michelangelo that the latest works by the Prince of the Synagogue Raphael were like 'figures passed through smoke'.

Raphael himself in 1514 in a heated and graceless letter to his uncle, full of huge boasts, huge fees and huge prospective dowries, exploded - 'And don't moan about my not writing; I who have a brush in my hand all day long.' Not the least of Dr Chambers' achievements is to have made human an age of giants.

GWYN A. WILLIAMS

xxi

Preface

I am very grateful for the generous help I have received in preparing this book. Acknowledgements are made in the appropriate places to Professor E. H. Gombrich and Professor Cecil Grayson for kind permission to include their trans­lations of two letters. I have benefited greatly from the advice of Miss Ann J. Kettle, Professor Lionel Butler, Professor John Steer, Mr John Lamer and Dr Jonathan Riley­Smith, all of whom have given time and thought to reading and criticising the text. I am also grateful to Dr C. H. Clough and Miss Susan Connell for advice on particular problems, and to a succession of students in the University of St Andrews who enlivened a seminar on 'the Italian Renais­sance'. Of these I owe special thanks to Mr Gerhard Benecke, Mr John Law and Mr David McLees, who suggested additional material for the collection. 'Opus fieri fecerunt'.

xxn

Introduction

This book is not another rapturous approach to 'Italian Renaissance Art'. It is concerned with the less imaginative parts of the process by which so many different works, of both great and minor art, came into being in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Italy. Its purpose is to display as wide a range as possible of documentary records which illustrate the patronage and working practice of artists during this period, including letters, contracts, extracts from books of payments and other memoranda, all long familiar to art historians, but excluding literary sources: humanist writings about the arts, or artists' own writings about themselves and their art. 1 This sort of material, which art historians from Vasari2 onwards have valued, raises and sometimes answers important questions beyond the domain of pure aesthetic pleasure; it surely deserves to be more widely known to students, however poor a substitute translations may be for the original texts. 3

1 Previous anthologies in English have not concentrated upon this period alone, nor upon such a restricted range of material. E. G. Holt, 'The Literary Sources of Art History' (Princeton, 194 7), reprinted under the less appropriate title 'A Documentary History of Art', 2 vols (New York, 195 7), is confined to strictly 'literary' texts for the Italian Renaissance, apart form a contract to Perugino in 1495, some letters of Michelangelo, and the well-known letter of Leonardo da Vinci to Ludovico Sforza, boasting principally of his skill as a military engineer (which is almost 'literary' since there is no certainty it was ever sent). R. Friedenthal, 'Letters of the Great Artists from Ghiberti to Gainsborough' (London, 1963) includes translations of some of the letters which appear in the present collection, but the scope of this work is rather different.

2 Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), 'Le vite de' piii eccellenti Pittori Scultori e Architettori' (Florence, 1550, 2nd ed., 1568). The standard edition remains that of G. Milanesi, 'Le Opere di Giorgio Vasari', 7 vols (Florence, 1878-82); an English translation is available in Everyman's Library, also one by G. de Vere, 10 vols (London, 1912-15).

3 A carefully edited collection of original texts is still badly needed. J. Gaye, 'Carteggio inedito d'artisti dei secoli xiv. xv. xvi', 3 vols

XX Ill

The expression 'Italian Renaissance' occurs in the title of the book not only because it is vaguely evocative, but also because it has some descriptive value for the period in art history lasting from the heyday of Ghiberti, Donatello, and Brunelleschi to the death of Raphael in 1520: when, in terms of the style, content, aspiration, and intellectual valuation of Italian art, and the growing reverence for artists, 'rebirth of antiquity' has most meaning. But any attempt to restrict the material to documents which only referred to the purer radiance of 'the Renaissance' would have been absurd and misleading. Many artists were eclectics, acutely concerned to develop their own individual styles, 'consumed with rivalry with one another', as a contemporary observed. 1 The collection theq:fore includes documents which stress con­tinuity as much as change, the 'international gothic' and traditional taste as well as the work of the 'avant-garde' with its stricter disciplines.

The terms 'patron' and 'artist' are to be understood by their simplest meaning. Patrons are those persons responsible, individually or collectively, for commissioning and paying for works produced by artists. Thus patronage in its wider sense, the social function of protecting and advancing a client party's interests, may only apply in certain cases, where princes and other persons of influence are concerned. 'Artists' are understood as the designers and producers of works of an acceptable or superior standard in the various techniques of painting, sculpture, and architecture: the three main categories to which Vasari reduced a great diversity. Thus the word is used here both in its traditional sense of {Florence, 1839-40), a rare work, full of inaccuracies, is still indis­pensable. Northern art has been better served than Italian, with the useful collection of original texts edited by H. Huth, 'Klinstler und Werkstatt der Spatgotik' {Augsburg, 1923;reprintedDarmstadt, 1967).

1 Angelo Decembrio attributed this remark to Marquis Leonello d'Este of Ferrara (d. 1450) in his dialogue 'De Politia Litteraria'. As a discerniug patron, Leonello is alleged to have had little taste for 'the folly of these northern people ... popular absurdities pandering to the extrvagance of princes and the stupidity of the crowd': M. Baxandall, 'A Dialogue on art from the Court of Leonello d'Este', 'Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes', xxvi {1963) 314, 316-17. That 'chivalric' and 'classic' tastes were not neccessarily opposites is, however, pointed out by C. Mitchell, 'A Fifteenth Century Plutarch' {London, 1961) pp. 6-7.

XXlV

artisan or skilled craftsman, nsmg from the rigorous and restrictive background of workshop training and guild ('arte') membership, and in its exalted sense of the omniscient, divinely inspired creator, which Alberti, and later Vasari, did so much to foster. Conceivably, the same person might be both a patron and an artist, 1 but in general the distinction is obvious enough.

In arrangement the material has been governed more by the species patron than the species artist. Instead of being classified under different arts, individual artists, workshop traditions, regions of Italy, chronology, or according to types of document and subject-matter, it is presented under a number of headings which indicate different types of patron. The final section includes some material illustrating aspects of the working experience of artists without reference to any particular type of patronage. Beneath these main headings the items are arranged separately or in groups according to their particular content and significance. Fine distinctions between types of patron sometimes cause rather similar commissions to be placed far apart. It is not always with strict accuracy that 'Guild Patronage', 'Clerical Patronage' and 'Princely Patronage' are distinguished from 'Civic Patronage'. For instance, the section entitled 'Guild Patronage' illustrates the governmental or civic responsibility which the guilds of Florence assumed for the care and decoration of certain ecclesiastical buildings; the Wool Guild declared that the statue they commissioned from Ghiberti at Or' San Michele was 'for the honour of the city' (no. 23). At Bologna, however, where the government was clerically dominated, the church of San Petronio was the admini­strative responsibility of the papal legate; the documents about J acopo della Quercia's commission therefore appear under the heading 'Clerical· Patronage'. Meanwhile at Prato the commission for the outside pulpit and the building of the church of S. Maria delle Carceri could not be classified clearly except as examples of 'Civic Patronage'. Private donors who commissioned works to be placed in churches present another difficulty; where the commission was to be

1 e.g. Lorenzo de' Medici in submitting a design for the Cathedral facade at Florence; or one could describe as 'sub-patrons' artists who subcontracted part of their work to others.

XXV

supervised by a clerical body the documents are classified as 'Clerical Patronage'. Finally the point must be made that the same persons acted in overlapping roles, participating in the corporate patronage of guilds or civic institutions, and also acting individually as princely and private patrons: the Medici 1 were protean in this respect, their role eludes definition as it did generally in Florentine life.

What special problems do all these documents substantially or partially illustrate? The answer depends of course on what one is looking for, and this introduction would defeat the purpose of the book if it set out to make a complete analysis. They reveal, for instance, patrons' requirements and pre­ferences, and their evaluation of individual artists. They also reveal the artists' point of view, sometimes raising a suggestive note about the vocabulary they used. What, for instance, did Vivarini and Cossa mean when praising them­selves as artists who studied (nos. 41, 103), or Neri di Bicci understand by the terms ancient and modern (nos. 110, 111)? Some light is thrown upon the question of where artists derived their esoteric details and programmes of 'stories', even if contracts are often frustrating in their reference to instructions and drawings which do not survive. 2

Certain artists might be quite cavalier in their disregard for specific instruction; others perhaps preferred working to an exact programme (e.g. Pasti in no. 48). Finally, problems of a social and economic nature can also be explored through the documents: the status of the artist and the terms by which he was bound; 5ecularisation and commercialisation; art's re­lationship to the society for which it was produced. 2

1 On the subject of Medicean patronage, see E. H. Gombrich, 'The Early Medici as Patrons of Art', in 'Italian Renaissance Studies', ed. E. F. Jacob (London, 1960), reprinted in Gombrich, 'Norm and Form: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance' !London, 1966).

2 Accompanying drawings rarely survive with the other documents. A sketch accompanies Fra Filippo Lippi's letter to Giovanni de' Medici in 1457 about a presentation painting for the King of Naples; see I. B. Supino, 'Fra Filippo Lippi (Florence, 1902) p. 89. The contract con­cerning alterations to the Cathedral of Chioggia by Giacomo di Lazzaro, 1 ] lily 1468, also includes a drawing, reproduced in P. Paoletti, 'L'architettura e la scultura del Rinascimento in Venezia' (Venice, 1893) i 53, fig. 68. (Miss Susan Connell kindly drew my attention to this.)

3 For such broader analysis and its dangers, see the Bibliographical Notes.

XXVI

It will be clear from the inclusion of material relating to the more artisan artists as well as to the C:lite, that no special emphasis is being placed upon the rise of the artist to a new social status. The possibility of such an ascent had been there before Ghiberti became involved with Niccolo Niccoli and others of the humanist circle in Florence; 1 rhetorical acclamation for individual artists had already been growing in the Trecento.2 Those who had the right social background, acquired some humanist values and useful introductions might well obtain more than an artisan status; the paths of Brunelleschi, Alberti, Baldovinetti or Raphael were obviously smoother than those of Masaccio or Neri di Bicci. On the other hand not all artists necessarily sought to become rich and ascend the social ladder; a moral decision may have been involved, or else they may not have looked upon their careers in this light at all. Though Mantegna aspired to rise, buying himself a title from the Emperor Frederick III and endowing his daughters with generous dowries, 3 Donatello (according to Vespasiano) refused Cosimo de' Medici's offer of smart clothes4 and (according to Vasari) kept his money in a basket which was frequently rifled. 5 There are many figures of whom it would be hard to say whether they arrived socially or even aspired to do so. Cossa's letter to Duke Borso d'Este of Ferrara (no. 103) might be interpreted as the protest of a frustrated social climber; but it might equally be that of a master craftsman complaining that his hire was nor worthy of his specially skilled labour. Nor is there a valid social criterion to distinguish artists subjected to the contract system from those who were free from its supposed servitude. Resident court artists may have done without contracts; those who worked independently for princely or private patrons were likely to make formal agreements. Isabella d'Este approached

I See E. H. Gombrich, 'From the Revival of Letters to the Reform of the Arts, Niccolo Niccoli and Filippo Brunelleschi', 'Essays in the History of Art presented to Rudolf Wittkower' (London, 1967) i 71-82.

2 J. Larner, 'The Artist and the Intellectuals in Fourteenth Century Italy', 'History', liv {1969) 13-30.

3 P. Kristeller, 'Andrea Mantegna' {London, 1901) pp. 202-3. 4 Vespasiano da Bisticci, 'Vite di uornini Illustri del secolo xv', ed. P.

d'Ancona and E. Aeschlimann {Milan, 1951) pp. 418-19; the incident is mentioned by Gombrich, in 'Italian Renaissance Studies', pp. 298-302.

5 Vasari, 'Opere', ii 420. xxvii

eminent painters by personal letter and the services of her influential friends and agents, but it appears that once she had received a firm promise it was clinched by a contract: the very detailed contract with Perugino illustrates this (no. 76). Contracts did not in fact subject the artist to any social indignity; they were drawn up for many other sorts of professional service, and were desirable for the security of both parties. Probably they were of more advantage to the artist than to the patron. This is illustrated not only by cases where special perquisites, such as food and fuel, were included in the contract (e.g. nos. 9, 15) or where the price was subject to valuation by a well-disposed fellow artist (nos. 121, 123, 126), but more generally by the manner in which so many artists seem to have broken their contracts with impunity: even Fra Angelico did so (no. 118). On the other hand it was not unknown for artists to take legal action against their patrons, and two successful cases are quoted (nos. 124, 127). Stern injunctions often appear in the con­tracts: the artist must do all the work by his own hand, undertake no other commissions, or finish within a given time. Such clauses were hard to enforce and may have been more expressive of hope than serious expectation. Penalty clauses about lateness might threaten a reduced fee or even a fine (e.g. nos. 11, 27) but more evidence is needed to show whether they were put into execution. Meanwhile, there was small consolation for the patron in the artist's pledging of his goods and chattels. If the patron was determined to have a work by his chosen artist, and the latter delayed, the wiser course was to wait patiently or to draw up a new contract (e.g. no. 32 n.); at the most he might try to bring pressure to bear, either through a persevering correspondence or by an appeal to those of stronger influence and authority (e.g. no. 125). In conclusion, artists seem to have been freer agents than might be supposed, though it would be safer not to draw too many inferences about their status from these examples. Each personality and achievement was individual: there is not much to be gained by trying to impose socio­logical judgements. But the reader may judge for himself from the documents.

Although the selection begins with the clergy as patrons, by far the greater part of the material concerns the various

xxviii

branches of lay patronage. The balance may or may not be fairly weighted; the patronage of churchmen, above all the munificent prelates of the court of Rome, has not been ignored, but the range of documents is very much con­ditioned by their availability. If the laity predominate, it certainly does not follow that art became predominantly secular. Religious subjects might be interpreted in terms of classical and mathematical composition or social observation, churches built on centralised plans and with the Roman orders of architecture and decorative detail, but this did not reduce their devotional meaning or function. 1 Moreover, the religious art commissioned by lay patrons was indistinguish­able from that commissioned by the clergy. The records kept between 1454 and 1472 by Neri di Bicci, a minor but well­patronised Florentine painter, do not confirm, for instance, that the Florentine bourgeois patrons preferred the subject of the Epiphany before all others pecause the offering of wealth expressed their own predicament. Neri di Bicci painted over fifty versions of the Madonna and Child with attendant saints; his next most sought after subjects were Annunciations, Coronations, and Assumptions of the Madonna. 2 Conversely, secular art, such as portraiture and allegorical themes, was commisssioned by clergy as well as by laymen. It is a vain task to try and assess the degree of secularity in a patron's motives. Isabella d'Este, in the pursuit of allegorical paintings based on pagan myth, told Giovanni Bellini that she would be equally glad to have a scene of the Nativity (no. 67) and asked Leonardo da Vinci for a painting of Christ as a boy (no. 88). She clearly possessed enough conventional piety and maternal tenderness to want such pictures for their own sake, as well as a collector's urge to accept any work so long as it was by the most reputable painters. But if the genres of neo-pagan allegory and 'poesia' and the individual portrait were innovatory, many secular

1 R. Wittkower, 'Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism', 3rd ed. (London, 1962) pp. 3-32.

2 Vasari, 'Opere' ii 71-9. Extracts from Neri's 'Ricordanze' are given by Milanesi, ibid., pp. 69-90, and ff. 1-28v of the original text (Uffizi Gallery Library, Florence, MS. ii) were edited by G. Poggi in '11 Vasari' (Arezzo, 1927-31) i, iii, iv; a complete edition has yet to be made.

XXlX

subjects for art are found long before this period; repre­sentations of famous men and military heroes, allegories of government and justice, battle scenes and hunting scenes, and the general adornment of public places and palaces. It would be difficult to calculate whether there was progressively more of all this from 1400 to 1520; so much an was on the borders of secular and religious, and so much has been lost.

Two main questions arise about art as a form of commerce. Were the prices which artists could command standardised or arbitrary, rising or falling over the period? Did something recognisable as an art market develop?

A study of prices presents various difficulties. The sum quoted in a contract, for instance, is no proof of payment, of which separate record does not always exist. Prices might also be quoted in a number of different denominations.1 In most cases they are reckoned in gold coinage, Florentine 'large florins of gold in gold', or equivalent Venetian and Papal ducats, which was clearly a considerably advantage and security to the artist, though in Florence, as well as the 'large florins' first struck in 1433, coins of inferior gold content, called florins under seal ('de sugello') because they circulated in little sealed bags of leather, survived until 1471 (e.g. nos. 7, 121). However payments are also quoted in the local silver coinage ('moneta di piccioli') which existed in 'denari' and various larger units of 'denari': 'grossi', 'quattrini', 'carleni', 'bolognini' etc., the names differing from place to place. Amounts of these are usually expressed in 'lire' and 'soldi' ( 12 'denari' = 1 'soldo'; 20 'soldi' = 1 'lira') which were money of account, corresponding to no minted coin. Some of the documents show that artists were paid partly in gold and partly in silver (e.g. no. 6); the rates of exchange between the two systems varied from day to day and money-changer to money-changer, and the documents illustrate this variability. In 1252, when the first gold florin was struck, it corres­ponded in value to the 'lira' of 240 silver 'denari'; Cipolla has shown how the silver coin steadily depreciated in its relative value so that by 1500 the gold florin was equivalent to 7 'lire' in silver. 2 The rate of 6 'lire' to the florin in the Ghirlandaio

1 R. de Roover, 'The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank' 1397-1494 {New York, 1966) pp. 32-3 is followed here.

2 C. M. Cipolla, 'Studi di storia della moneta' {Pavia, 1948) i 81-5. xxx

contract of 1485 (no. 107) corresponds closely enough with Cipolla's specimen rate of 6 'lire', 3 'soldi' for that year, though the rate quoted by N eri di Bicci of 4 'lire' to the florin in 145 6-6 7 is more generous to silver than Cipolla's rate of over 5 'lire' for the same period.

Prices quoted in gold provide a constant basis tor com­parison, but how were these prices assessed? 1 Materials, time involved in a work, and the costs of assistant labour deter­mined much. Sometimes the patron paid for specified items separately; sometimes the artist was paid an inclusive fee and met all expenses. The production of bronze sculpture greatly exceeded marble in cost, though the latter could be expensive where a work of vast size was demanded: the most obvious example being Michelangelo's projects for the tomb of Pope Julius II. 2 Prices for paintings varied considerably, and in any analysis of prices one has to remember that the combination of a patron with large resources and a much sought after artist might lead to inflated prices being paid. Fra Angelico was offered 190 florins for the Linaiuoli altar­piece in 1433 (no. 119) and Perugino was to be paid no less than 500 f1orins for an altarpiece he did for the Benedictines of San Pietro, Perugia. 3 Sebastiana del Piombo's fee of 1000 ducats for his 'Raising of Lazarus' in 1518 seems enormous (no. 18} even though this was a large canvas; it illustrates the high prices available in Rome. At Neri di Bicci's level in the mid-fifteenth century, the artist's fee or honorarium for his 'mastery' might be only a third of the total price paid when costs were deducted (nos. 5, 6). 150 ducats was a top price for a small painting; in 1501 Isabella d'Este managed to

1 For an analysis of prices and a table see H. Lerner-Lehmkuhl, 'Zur Struktur und Geschichte des Florentinischen Kunstmarktes' (Wattenscheid, 1936), and M. Wackernagel, 'Der Lebensraum des Kunstlers in der Florentinischen Renaissance' (Leipzig, 1938) is very useful though sources are not cited fully.

2 Michelangelo was meant to receive 16,500 florins under the successive contracts of 1513 and 1516, in spite of the modifications to his first and most elaborate scheme for which he had been offered 10,000. See C. de Tolnay, 'Michelangelo IV: The Tomb of Julius II' (Princeton, 1954) pp. 32, 48. Lerner-Lehmkuhl gives some examples from the early fifteenth century showing that the cost of marble was about one-third of the total price ('Struktur und Geschichte', p. 43).

3 F. Canuti, '11 Perugino' (Siena, 1931) ii 176-7; Holt, 'A Documentary History of Art', i 268-70.

XXXI

reduce Bellini's fee from 150 to 100 ducats (no. 64) but in 1506 Mantegna was demanding from one of his private clients an increase beyond 150 ducats (no. 72). For frescoes, some high prices were offered towards the end of the period. Ghirlandaio was to have 100 florins for each of ten frescoes in Florence in 1485 (no. 107) but this was less than the Sistine Chapel price of 250 ducats apiece (no. 11) which would be equivalent to the price of 1200 ducats which Raphael stated he was offered for the Stanze della Segnatura and dell'Incendio (no 16). The highest prices quoted for: fresco painting are Michelangelo's, though they depend on his own word some years later that he was offered 3000 florins for his part in decorating the Hall of the Great Council in Florence, and the same for the Sistine Chapel ceiling.2 Even for so brilliant a work as the Battle of Cascina scene this sounds unusally high, though more understandable for the Sistine Chapel ceiling with the infinitely greater labour and invention it involved.

This brief survey suggests first, that prices on the whole rose, 2 at least for paintings, though a number of exceptionally high prices need not signify a general increase on this scale;3 and second, that artists were rather well paid, in terms of money values and fees for other services. In 1431

1 E. Ramsden, 'The Letters of Michelangelo' (London, 1963) i no. 157, pp. 148-9 Qanuary 1524).

2 Cf. Wackernagel, 'Lebensraum des Kunstlers', pp. 347-8. However, information about paintings in the late fourteenth century confirms the danger of generalisation, and the need to take the reputation of the artist, material costs and the size of the work into consideration. In 1373 the maximum price for a picture, 'the most beautiful obtainable', was stated by Francesco Datini to be 6Y2 florins, and 5 florins as the maximum price for a painting of the Madonna required by customers who sought 'good figures' and 'fine work'. See R. Brun, 'Notes sur le commerce des objets d'art en France et principalement a Avignon', 'Bibliotheque de !'ecole des chartes,' xcv (1934) 342-3. On the other hand, in October 1383 Agnolo Gaddi suggested to Datini the minimum price for painting 3 braccia high was 25 florins, and a Franciscan friar requiring an altarpeice for his convent at Bonifacio in Corsica was prepared to pay 85 florins in 1395. See R. Piattoli, 'Un mercante del Trecento e gli artisti del tempo suo', :Rivista d'arte'. xi (1929) 238-9, 245; this article, continued in vol. xii (1930), contains much further information about prices taken from the Datini archives at Prato.

3 Compare the modest payment agreed for a work by Perugino in 1521 (no. 9).

xxxii

Carlo Marsuppini was one of the highest-paid lecturers in the Florentine Studio with an annual salary of 140 florins; 1 at about the same period, 350 florins was a good basic income for a lawyer. 2 Thus Mantegna's salary of 180 ducats (excluding other perquisites) as Ludovico Gonzaga's court painter seems very adequate; his indignation when the Marquis was not always able to pay it may have been because he supposed he might have been still better off on a free­lance basis (nos. 59-60). The upward trend in prices must, however, be considered together with the likelihood of an increase in material costs, and with the caution that though spectacular commissions could be had from the most affluent patrons- from the Roman court, from Venice, or from the French invaders - there was certain depressive factors in the early sixteenth century. It seems improbable that the invasions of Italy, the collapse of many governments and princely dynasties and the increases in taxation helped to create a boom period for artists, a disproportion between supply and demand in favour of the suppliers. Pintoricchio, writing in 1507, seems to have suggested that the good times were over (no. 122).

Was art a good investment for patrons? As an investment to gain social prestige, spiritual enrichment and lasting fame it may have been; but it is difficult to see it in the modern sense of a safe way of investing capital during a period of economic contraction.3 Partly this is owing to the immobility, the impossibility of reselling so much of the art; partly to the lack of evidence that value appreciated. The inventories of the Medici collection drawn up after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent show that small paintings by Giotto and Fra Angelico, for instance, might be valued at only 5 florins (no. 54). On the other hand antique objects, cameos, figurines, marble busts, or jewels, gold and silverware were worth hundreds or even thousands of florins, as the high

1 L. Martines, 'The Social World of the Florentine Humanists' (London, 1963) p. 259. Lerner-Lehmkuhl, 'Struktur und Geschichte', p. 50, gives a rather more optimistic estimate for university teachers.

2 L. Martines, 'Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence' (Princeton, 1968) pp. 103-5.

3 See R. S. Lopez, 'Hard times and investment in culture', in 'The Renaissance: A Symposium' (New York, 1952).

B. C.P.A.I.R. XXXlll

valuations show: they were a genuine investment. Even so, one may too easily discount the aesthetic motive in collecting them; Cardinal Pietro Barbo (Pope Paul II) and Piero de' Medici were not mere speculators gloating upon their hoards, 1 and artists themselves such as Ghiberti and Mantegna were also collectors. All this is not to deny that art in its more portable forms was to some extent 'com­mercialised' by the early sixteenth century; but that was not a wholly new phenomenon. The old-fashioned workshop painter Neri di Bicci dealt in other workshops' paintings, had his agents outside Florence, and kept a small stock of ready­made works for sale. 2 This was probably no innovation. Moreover it is not a very long step from the patron's or merchant's agents who made contact on their behalf with artists to the middle man or art dealer who was not himself an artist. The first of these is said to have been the Florentine Giovanni della Palla, who exported Florentine works to France in the second decade of the sixteenth century; 3 but the business associates of Francesco Datini of Prato were ordering and exporting Florentine paintings for sale at Avignon a century and a half earlier. 4

These introductory remarks have been offered as a pre­liminary sketch rather than a 'finished painting with adorn­ments'; the intention is to present certain problems through select documents, not to argue a thesis based on exhaustive research. Nor, of course, can this collection pretend to be a critical edition of source material. Caution is required, since most of the translations are made from printed texts. The rendering in English may be open to criticism: constructions, idioms, and technical vocabulary in the original Italian or

1 R. Weiss, 'Un umanista venziano: Papa Paolo II' (Venice, 1959) p. 26; Filarete's 'Treatise on Architecture', trans. J. R. Spencer (New Haven, Conn., and London, 1965) p. 320.

2 Vasari, 'Opere', ii 85-6. 3 Wackernagel, 'Lebensraum des Kiinstlers', pp. 288-9. 4 See the articles by Piattoli and Brun cited on p. xxxii, n. 2. A letter

from Boninsegna di Matteo, Datini's principal business associate at Avignon, laid down in March 138 7 the rule for agents to follow in Florence, of buying when a painter needed money, so as to get the lowest price: Brun, p. 343, quoted by R. S. Lopez and I. W. Raymond, 'Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World' (New York, 1955) pp. 114-5.

XXXIV

Latin are often archaic and perplexing. An attempt has been made to preserve style, but also in some cases to reduce the prolixity and repetitive jargon of the notaries who drew up contracts. For certain words no clear equivalent could be found, and it seemed better to leave them untranslated. For instance, the word storia, meaning the subject or scene repre­sented in an individual composition or a narrative cycle, remains as 'story'. The word operaio (Latin equivalent operarius), meaning a person holding administrative respon­sibility for the patronage of a guild, fraternity, or works office of a church, has not been translated: the possibilities are all clumsy or misleading. Where appropriate, the word arte has been translated as 'guild', but the Venetian Scuola, a species of philanthropic institution unconnected with any particular trade, has neither been rendered as 'school' nor 'guild' but left as it is. Where the Italian gives several synonyms the single English equivalent has been used, e.g. 'pulpit' for perbio, pergamo, pulpito. Una Nostra Donna has been re-Italianised as 'a Madonna', and names of saints have been retained in the Italian where a particular church is involved (e.g. Santa Maria Novella, not 'New St Mary's'). In general the Italian versions of names have been used, rather than Latin, English or Italian dialect forms, so have special terms such as braccio (a measure of 23 inches in Florence, though measures varied in different localities) and gesso (a technical preparation of plaster of Paris). Honorific titles like prudens vir, circumspectus, spectabilis etc., have had to be translated, although it is difficult to find an English equivalent; dominus is translated as lord, though this need not of course imply nobility; the various forms of messer, missier, ser etc. have been kept in the original. Dates of years have sometimes had to be altered to conform with the modern practice of counting the new year from 1 January (e.g. the year began in Florence and some other parts of Italy on 25 March or the Feast of the Incarnation; in Venice it began on 1 March).

XXXV